Due diligence on new products, services is inadequate at some banks, OCC warns.

• Position: Marketing News - Office of the Comptroller of the Currency - Brief Article

Adding new products and services without sufficient due diligence has recently caused dozens of banks, both large and small, to suffer financial problems, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency warned this spring.

The OCC specifically focused on new products offered through third-party vendors or products that were new versions of traditional products. "Some historically well-managed banks have found themselves faced with problems because bank management underestimated its need to manage, monitor and control the development of a product or service," the OCC reported in a bulletin to banks.

The problem was not with any particular product or service, the OCC said, but rather with the...